Donald Trump set to declare an emergency in wall crisis

President Trump said during a visit to the Mexican border yesterday that he would “almost definitely” declare a state of emergency to secure funds for a wall if he could not reach agreement with the Democrats.

His strongest threat to bypass Congress came the day after he walked out of talks with Democratic leaders when Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, refused to release any cash for the wall.

The failure to sign off on annual funding legislation has left the US government facing its longest partial shutdown. It will pass the 21 days under President Clinton if it continues into tomorrow, with 800,000 workers due to miss out on their pay cheques today.